Are your joints tender to the touch???

[LuckyJC]

This might seem like a stupid question, but are your painful joints also painful when you touch them?

I have a diagnosis of UCTD but have recently discovered that my grandad had RA, so I'm wondering if this could be what I have.

I've just read that RA causes your joints to feel tender to the touch. Mine aren't; they throb and ache but when I touch or press them I don't feel anything in particular.

Is that normal or does that suggest that it may not be RA? I do have an ultrasound of my hands this Friday but thought I would also ask for opinions here.

Thanks in advance

Lucy

[Eiram50]

Hi Lucy

I have a diagnosis of AD and RA and yes, mine are painful to touch and to move.

Marie

[Mandy8175]

My joints are tender to touch as well. RA manifests in similar ways, but my joints being tender doesn't mean yours will be too! It never hurts to be tested! My joints are tender usually in a flare, but not too bad when my inflammation falls!

[BubbleMonkey]

Hey there. I was recently diagnosed with Palindromic Rheumatism which as I understand it is a randomly occurring form of RA without damage to joints. Not sure how relevant my experience will be to you, but I'll let you work that out

Mine started a few months ago with a pain in my leg and since then I've been getting varying levels of aches and pains most days. My pain isn't too bad and isn't often enough that I would want to take painkillers even, but it's random and annoying and does restrict me sometimes (especially when it's my knees cos stars become a big pain in the... well knees).

For me it tends to be short episodes of aching or pains for as little as a few seconds throughout a longer time like a day or a week. My knees are a consistent theme so it tends to be them being generally a bit achy and getting painful here and there paired with random little bursts of pain in places like my finger joints.

Other than the aches and pains themselves I have no indicators. No restricted movement, no swelling, no tenderness, no nothing. The pain just does what it wants to do regardless of anything else. Only thing that seems to affect it is cold or strain when there is already pain. So if I have some pain in my knee that day walking past a fan or going downstairs may trigger it, but otherwise it behaves as normal. I can sit resting my head on my hand/ writs with no issues, but then it might decide to hurt some other time for no reason. And poking at my knees or anything doesn't matter even if they're in pain at the time.

Still, despite the lack of indicators, my rheumy was straight to the PR diagnosis and explained it often doesn't have any indicators other than the pain itself. Made me feel a lot better after GPs clearly thinking I was crazy.

So that's me- nothing but pain and still have a confirmed issue. So it seems it certainly is possible even if not in specific conditions. Definitely worth exploring and having a talk with a dr/ rheumy about.

Hope that helps. Good luck with everything

[LizzieR]

Mine are sore to touch x

[Helzbells]

Mine are sore to touch which ironically the rheumatologist said wasn't standard for RA! The pain is worst in my knees and elbows, constant pain and tenderness and fluid in the joints but no inflammation

[Ccrowlu]

Hi LuckyJC!

My name is Cortney. I am sixteen years old and have severe RA. All of my joints, especially my knees have been affected by this horrible disease. (Some doctors do call it a disease) I find that whenever someone touches a joint it’s uncomfortable. But like a painful uncomfortable. If that makes sense. Every time someone touches say my knee I jerk away and tell them not to. My parents think I’m crazy but it just doesn’t feel the way it did when I was nine. It is like a burn in my slime but not really.